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Topic Review (Newest First)

06-28-2011 11:26 AM

Tim R.

We live aboard our 1997 Caliber 40lrc in Portland, Maine. We are preparing for our big cruise in a couple of years.

We have a shelf/microwave built over the sink and love it. The nav station is pretty useless although I have yet to see one big enough in any boat to spread a chart out on. I use the salon table for that.

We feel the boat does great in light air. We placed 3rd in a long distance race last year in light air. We finished the 100nm mile just a few minutes behind a C&C 35 and an Ericson 34. You need to have a slab reef main with a decent roach, sails in good condition and proper trim.

06-28-2011 10:25 AM

bobperry

A fully loaded Valiant 42 won Class C in the Swiftsure Race this year. So don't be sure a boat can't be a blue water cruiser and a race boat. It just takes skilled sailing and a good rating.

NIGHT RUNNER, a 42' cruiser of my design that has been around Cape Horn won Class B. Another example of a boat that is both an offshore cruiser and a race boat.

Class A was won by ICON another of my designs. I'm still feeling smug.

06-28-2011 10:12 AM

hasuehounds

Our boat is simlar to Escape, solar panels, battery system, sails and furling systems and tankage. We love the tankage, we only carry jerry jugs for gasoline for the honda 2000 generator and the outboard. We carry two spare water jugs for just extra water (we carry 200) but i keep the extra for the shower bag and should i need extra water.
We also have onboard a pur water filter, which is wonderful, weve had some uky tasting water in different places esp south and it filters it all to wonderful drinking water, and when were on the move, there is no soda or extras, so water is a big deal
We do not have a washing system on board, due to space, and we didnt get a water maker for that reason and also we dont want to run the engine and burn fuel to make water! Esp when we carry 200 gallons.
This boat is NOT A COASTAL CRUISER, IT IS NOT A RACE BOAT. If you want only to do local, coastal stuff, spend your money on a hunter. That is what they are famous for is local cruising.
IF YOU WANT A BOAT THAT CAN TAKE A BEATING IN STORMS, MANAGE HIGH WAVES, BIG SEAS, LOTS OF WIND ( I MEAN OVER 20KNTS) AND EXTREME CONDITONS WITH LOTS OF STABLITY, TANKAGE AND GOOD CREATURE COMFORTS (WITH MODIFICATIONS BY YOU) ITS A FABULOUS BOAT
on our boat we have gone to the Bahamas, (crossed the gulf with no problem) thru to the Turks and Caicos, Thru the MONA PASSAGE ( not the easiest waterways, very unpredictable) Down to the DR, PR, and to the USVIs
This year our travels this winter will take us to Trinidad, Tabago and perhaps the ABC islands of the lesser antillies.
This boat can manage light air, but its not a sailboat that is known for light air sailing, should you decide you have to have a caliber and sail in conditions where light air is always an issue, i suggest you invest in a good Spinnaker sail for a caliber (they do have to be fitted to your boat size ) for a person who sails light air all the time (like in the chessie) then its either you choose a boat made for only

06-28-2011 10:10 AM

hasuehounds

Sorry pushed the wrong button
If your in light air and that is a constant of the area you sail, then either get a spinnaker if you wish to own a caliber and learn how to use it, or buy a boat meant for only coastal cruising, like a hunter, jeanneau, catalina.. they are coastal cruisers and do well in light air and most conditions
A caliber is a tough well built boat that while it doesnt point well into the wind, or be able do do race manuvers, if your heading to points other than the US and want a boat that can manage all conditions, the caliber is the best performer.
Once you get past the bahamas, you dont see too many catalinas, hunters or simlar boats, in fact in puerto rico and USVIs we saw only steel ketchs, calibers, hans christenandersons, and many boats that were blue water boats
boats that only are in that area, many owners sail them down and leave them for the season. Our buddy boat down the mona this year was a MOODY and his boat went to grenada and he left the boat for the summer there and flew back, he made the passage from Quebec to Grenada by sailboat this past winter. A moody is another very sound ocean blue water boat.
On creature comforts living aboard, the caliber is great, not as much beam width as a 40 island packet but that is fine. ours has 2heads, a real convience, nice galley , that crappy nav station (who came up with that?_)
YOu can do like escape and replace that and relocate things, if you dont use it.
We saw one caliber long range cruiser who didnt like the galley with no space so he put a cabinet over the sink area, its just to die for.looks great and the storage space is great too
Calibers have good storage space for long trips, i stuff the aft berth with 5boxs of food, i found canned goods do not agree with salt air, so my canned goods go into a plastic storage box till used, i do keep provisions under my bunk and in the front under his bunk for 7months that includes canned meat(brinkmans) canned butter (redfeather) dry goods (repacked to plastic bags) and Canned cheeze, dried cheeze, mixes and other things.
So storage is adaquate.

So again from someone who owns a Caliber LRC 40 (year 2000) it is a great blue water ocean cruiser and made for sea conditions, the covertable rig for the stay sail is great btw..swim platform is super and we do have davits for the dingy, no dragging dingys in the ocean
but if you want to ocean sail its the boat you want to be on.. If you want to sail in the sounds of the US, the chesepeke and do local cruising so your not going out into the ocean or crossing the gulf -save your money and get a boat made for coastal crusing..
I live on this boat 24/7 its a super boat
as for what to bring on an ocean voyage.. a spare of everything on the boat you think can get broken, extra filters for raycores, extra nuts and bolts extra fanbelts, you name it extras, once you leave the US waters every where else has duty, shipping and higher costs to purchase things
ON our boat our Nav light on the boat is a double color and has a lens that is not replaceable so you have to buy the whole unit (price $50) we keep spares of it, reason is in the ocean if the waves hit it, the lens comes off, and no more nav light.. we now keep spares of that , we had to pay 50% duty in the caicos to get a replacement last year and it was the light, plus shipping and duty, bringing the cost from $50 replacement part to $150 spent to get it to us.. So planning is essential from replacements, being handy to fix motor and stuff on a boat, to storing food for the trip//
If you have any more questions write me privatly and i will be happy to help answer them, this is a very expensive boat to purchase and it is a huge decision.. so do read all you can.. it was on our short list of boats we wanted
those included a moody, endevor, passage, and island packet to mention the best we looked at..

Our boat is simlar to Escape, solar panels, battery system, sails and furling systems and tankage. We love the tankage, we only carry jerry jugs for gasoline for the honda 2000 generator and the outboard. We carry two spare water jugs for just extra water (we carry 200) but i keep the extra for the shower bag and should i need extra water.
We also have onboard a pur water filter, which is wonderful, weve had some uky tasting water in different places esp south and it filters it all to wonderful drinking water, and when were on the move, there is no soda or extras, so water is a big deal
We do not have a washing system on board, due to space, and we didnt get a water maker for that reason and also we dont want to run the engine and burn fuel to make water! Esp when we carry 200 gallons.
This boat is NOT A COASTAL CRUISER, IT IS NOT A RACE BOAT. If you want only to do local, coastal stuff, spend your money on a hunter. That is what they are famous for is local cruising.
IF YOU WANT A BOAT THAT CAN TAKE A BEATING IN STORMS, MANAGE HIGH WAVES, BIG SEAS, LOTS OF WIND ( I MEAN OVER 20KNTS) AND EXTREME CONDITONS WITH LOTS OF STABLITY, TANKAGE AND GOOD CREATURE COMFORTS (WITH MODIFICATIONS BY YOU) ITS A FABULOUS BOAT
on our boat we have gone to the Bahamas, (crossed the gulf with no problem) thru to the Turks and Caicos, Thru the MONA PASSAGE ( not the easiest waterways, very unpredictable) Down to the DR, PR, and to the USVIs
This year our travels this winter will take us to Trinidad, Tabago and perhaps the ABC islands of the lesser antillies.
This boat can manage light air, but its not a sailboat that is known for light air sailing, should you decide you have to have a caliber and sail in conditions where light air is always an issue, i suggest you invest in a good Spinnaker sail for a caliber (they do have to be fitted to your boat size ) for a person who sails light air all the time (like in the chessie) then its either you choose a boat made for only

02-17-2009 02:24 AM

sapo

I'm a fairly new owner of a year 2000 Caliber 40. I find it sails well in the typically medium to strong conditions we have where I am. It's comfortable and fun for live-aboard. Its an LRC, one thing I don't like is the lack of access to below the floors. The big fuel and water tanks result in there being virtually no accessible bilges.

01-13-2009 07:55 PM

ronbo1

Gozzards are very similar to Shannons in build and design. Here is a quote from their website concerning ballast:

"We believe the real advantage of an internal ballast system is that it is far more cost efficient and production friendly than a correctly engineered and manufactured external lead keel. And we know this well... recently, the cost of casting a modern external lead keel has increased to the point where it is at a cost disadvantage, where it might not make economic sense for some customers. The need to stay competitive has meant we are now offering our boats with either the encapsulated ballast or the optional upgraded fully external lead shoe. But there are differences in the two systems and as opposed to using marketing to sell one system over the other, here are some of the facts..."

FWIW, Shannon builds all their boats with encapsulated keels and I don't imagine it's on account of the cost savings.

02-12-2007 12:28 PM

camaraderie

Right...Roth is a great sailor and is educated as a journalist and photographer. He is not a marine architect...he just has opinions like the rest of us. When I want to KNOW about boat construction, I'd rather listen to some experts before making up my own mind. Some of the finest boats and most expensive have built with encapsulated keels...others with bolt ons. When the experts choose differnt methods when cost is no object my inclination is to say...it don't matter (unless it is done poorly either way)!

02-12-2007 03:00 AM

FritzN

One Person's Opinion

Hal Roth, a cruising journalist, who has cruised 200,000 miles and written over 400 magazine articles said in a recent book (one of ten that he’s written), “builders use encapsulated ballast for only one reason: it’s cheaper.” He goes on to thoroughly explain the dangers of internal ballast when experiencing serious groundings.

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